Tough

a. (adv., sb.) Forms: α. 1 tóh, tóch, 3 tou, 3–5 touȝ, toȝ, 3–6 tow, 4 touh, towh, towȝ, toȝe, 4–5 togh, towe, 5 touȝe, towȝe, toghe, towghe, toogh, touhe, (towhhe), 5–6 towgh, toughe, 4– tough. β. Sc. 5–9 teuch, teugh, (5–6 tewch, 6 tuich, tewgh, teoch, twch, -e, twich). γ. (with inorganic -t) 3 toht, 3–4 toȝt, 3–5 touȝt, Sc. 4 tucht, 5 touȝte, tout; 6 Sc. tewcht. δ. 4–5 tuf, 7 tuffe, 7–8 tuff. [OE. tóh:—*tǫnh:—*tanh, OTeut. *taŋχu-z; NFris. toch, tuch. From an OTeut. stem *taŋχ-, taŋg-, whence OE. ʓe-tęnge. Cf. (with ending of -ja decl.) OS. *tâhi (MLG. tâ, tei, LG. taa, tage, tau, Du. taai); OHG. zâhi (MLG. zâhe, zæhe, zæch, Ger. zähe, zäh).]

  1.  Of close tenacious substance or texture; strongly cohesive, so as to be pliable or ductile; not easily broken, divided, or disintegrated; not fragile, brittle, or tender; of food, difficult to masticate.

  α.  a. 700.  Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.), 581. Lenta, tarda vel toch. Ibid., 614. Lentum vimen, toh ʓerd.

c. 725.  Corpus Gloss., 1207. Lentum vimen, toh ʓerd.

c. 1275.  Lay., 5865. Kerueþ ȝoure speres lang and makeþ heom toȝe an strang.

1340–70.  Alex. & Dind., 691. Hue tilede in hur time on þe touh erþe, & whete soþliche sew.

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 630. [Abraham] a calf bryngez Þat watz tender & not toȝe; bed … þat he hit seþe faste.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 317. Temperynge of glas to make þe glas tough i-now to bende.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 10877. The spere was tow & long.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 7495. Telamon, the tore kyng, with a togh speire.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 498/1. Towhhe, not tendyr (A. tow, P. tough).

1552.  Huloet, Towgh, tenax.

1612.  Two Noble K., II. v. 2. I have not seene … a man of tougher synewes.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 628. The tougher Yeugh Receives the bending Figure of a Bow.

1769.  E. Bancroft, Guiana, 209. Its body is tough and fibrous.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., v. (1842), 151. A wrought-iron mortar … would be too tough.

1843.  Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. (1883), I. 219. The ‘cold fowl’ was … as tough as leather.

  β.  c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, XI. 1061. With seuir cordys … Bath scharp and tewch.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VII. xiii. 65. Knyt wyth a teuch string.

a. 1584.  Montgomerie, Cherrie & Slae, 328. The Cherries … grewe On trimbling twistis tewch.

a. 1758.  Ramsay, Address of Thanks, xii. That setting-dog his man, May … use a teugh St. Johnston ribbon.

  γ.  1297.  Touȝt [see 8].

c. 1586.  Dunbar’s Poems, xxxii. 24. Na ȝowis auld, twch [Maitl. MS. tewcht] and sklender.

  δ.  a. 1400–50.  Alexander, 319. Tachid in his for-top—twa tufe hornes.

a. 1602.  Tuffe [see sense 4].

1653.  Walton, Angler, xii. 223. Gentles … is a good bait … being lively and tuffe.

1665.  Hooke, Microgr., 51. The pure parts of metals are of themselves very flexible and tuff.

a. 1679.  R. Boyle, Guzman, II. Dram. Wks. 1739, II. 267. Let his Skin be tuff as Wall.

1683.  Pettus, Fleta Min., I. (1686), 3. Silver which is tuff or hard.

1733.  W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 8. Being tuffer, and more tenacious than any other.

  2.  Of viscous consistence or nature; sticky, adhesive, tenacious; glutinous.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., III. 16. Gnid ða buteran on ðæm hwetstane mid copore þæt heo beo wel toh.

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. xi. 3. Thei hadden … towȝ cley for syment.

c. 1440.  Pallad. on Husb., I. 66. Tough to glue ayein though thowe it delve.

1460.  Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 30. Tow erde, cleped bitumen.

1530.  Tindale, Answ. More, IV. xii. Wks. (1573), 338/1. A carte that is ouer laden … in a tough mire maketh them [the horses] stand still.

1658.  A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., III. iv. 228. Clear water, somewhat tuff and slimie.

1789.  W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 675. Tough viscid saliva.

1800.  Med. Jrnl., III. 154. The first class possess tough, glutinous juices.

  3.  fig. Stiff; severe, violent; † (sometimes) grievous, painful; of a contest, etc.: stoutly maintained, strenuous, vigorous and stubborn.

  α.  c. 1205.  Lay., 9319. & Hamun him to strac Mid toȝen [c. 1275. luþer] his mæine.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10605. Wan tueye stronge comeþ to gadere, it is somdel tou [rhyme slou].

a. 1300[?].  Cursor M., 24439 (Cott.). I sagh him dei, i sorud ai,… mi tening es sa togh.

c. 1430.  Hymms Virg., 120. With wawys grete, & stormys towe.

1539.  Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1552), 3. They wil giue much tougher and more ernest strokes.

a. 1661.  Fuller, Worthies, Warwick (1662), II. 122. There was a tough contest betwixt the South and Northernmen in that university.

1865.  Gosse, Land & Sea (1874), 4. A tough breeze from the westward.

1891.  C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 153. In spite of the tough racket I had had.

  γ.  13[?].  R. Gloucester’s Chron. (Rolls), 517. Þe wrastlinge bitvene hom was sorndel toȝt [rhyme ibroȝt]. Ibid. (1400–40), App. H. 41. Þat bataile was wel towȝt [rhyme nouȝt]. Ibid., App. XX. 150. Sumdel þat was tout [rhyme nout].

  4.  Capable of great physical endurance; strongly resisting force, injury, fatigue, etc.; not easily overcome, tired, or impaired; hardy, stout, sturdy.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 13038. Petron had go, nad Beofs be tow.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIII. 187. Ac seedes þat been sowen and mowe suffre wyntres, Aren tydyour and tower to mannes by-hofthes.

1451.  Capgrave, Life St. Gilbert, 73. His witte as fresch,… his mynde as tow,… as euyr þei were.

1571.  Satir. Poems Reform., xxv. 100. They know I am ane tuilȝeour teoch.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 258. A painefull and laborious fellowe, and such a one as is hard and toughe, and able to indure toile.

a. 1602.  in Campion, Art Eng. Poesie, v. 18. All the glebe His tuffe hands manur’d.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 322. A Glebe that asks Tough Teams of Oxen, and laborious Tasks.

1775.  Sheridan, Rivals, I. i. There is an old tough aunt in the way.

1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xxi. That was what tough old Sir Evan Dhu used to say.

1856.  Emerson, Eng. Traits, Ability. Even the … sots of England are of a tougher texture.

  5.  Having great intellectual or moral endurance; difficult to influence, affect, or impress; steadfast, firm, persistent; also, stubborn, obstinate, hardened.

c. 1400.  26 Pol. Poems, xxv. 521. Yef myn hert be styf and towe, To thanke the in wele and woo. Ibid. (1411), x. 35. My loue to man it was so tow.

1519.  Horman, Vulg., 142 b. The stewarde of the house is harde and toughe.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 965. A man of ripe yeares, but yet fierce of courage, tough in opinion.

1780.  Cowper, Table-Talk, 458. Obduracy takes place; callous and tough, The reprobated race grows judgment proof.

1848.  Dickens, Dombey, x. You’ll find him tough, Ma’am. Tough, Sir, tough is Joseph.

1898.  Daily News, 25 Jan., 6/2. As a witness before Parliamentary Committees he was what is called ‘a tough customer.’

  6.  Difficult to do, accomplish, perform, or deal with; hard, trying, laborious, troublesome.

1619.  Visct. Doncaster, Lett., in Eng. & Germ. (Camden), 133. To perswade them to hearken to a treaty would prove a tough piece of worke.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1650), I. IV. xv. 117. [The town of Breda] hath yeelded…, after a tough siege of thirteen months.

1797.  Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xiii. They should find tough work of it.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xv. ‘It will be a tough job,’ growled the assassin.

1853.  Kingsley, Hypatia, xxv. [He] comforted his troubled soul with a tough problem of astronomy.

  b.  Hard to believe or understand; taxing credulity or comprehension.

1820.  W. Irving, in Life & Lett. (1864), I. xxvii. 459. When your boy grows large enough to understand tough stories.

1840.  Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. I. Acc. New Play. Tell us tough yarns, and then swear they are true.

1861.  Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., xii. 155. This seemed to them the toughest yarn of all.

  7.  U.S. Of criminal or vicious proclivities. Cf. B.

1884.  J. Miller, Mem. & Rime, i. 9. And oh! but this is a tough town!

1894.  Stead, If Christ Came to Chicago, 35. An oasis of cleanliness and light in the midst of a district which was decidedly tough. Ibid., 36. One of the toughest of the toughs in the slums.

  † 8.  Phrase. To make it tough. a. To make it difficult; to make difficulties about doing something; to show reluctance. Obs.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 10498. Þe king glosede her & þer & made it somdel touȝt, Ac þo it com to þe strengþe he nolde it graunti nouȝt.

c. 1369.  Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 531. Lo howe goodly spake this knyght … And made it neyther tough ne queynt.

c. 1400.  Rowland & O., 118. Þou may Iangill & make it toughe.

c. 1412.  Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 3516. ‘Iulius,’ quod he, ‘make it noght so tow [v.r. tough].’

c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 1069. It may nocht mend the ane myte to mak it so teugh.

1530.  Palsgr., 624/2. I make it tough, I make it coye, as maydens do, or persons that be strange if they be asked a questyon…. Mary, you make it toughe, Marie, vous faitez le dangereux.

  † b.  To be persistent or obstinate. Obs.

a. 1549.  in Laneham’s Let. (1871), Pref. 151. Albeit ye mak it never sa tewch, To me your labour is in vane.

1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), ii. 154. Quhen thai saw Sym sic curage ta, And Will makit sa twche.

  † 9.  quasi-adv. Vigorously, stoutly; persistently.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XI. xviii. (Tollem. MS.). Yf it be touȝe [ed. 1535 strongly] blowe, and þanne broke.

c. 1470.  Golagros & Gaw., 704. The wyis … All to-turnit thair entyre, traistly and tewch.

1581.  Satir. Poems Reform., xliv. 125. Quhen as he draue and Knox held steue the pleuch, And Methuen seu adulterie so teuch.

1805.  A. Douglas, Poems (1806), 12. At Luncarty they fought fu’ teuch.

1827.  W. Taylor, Poems (ed. 2), 98 (E.D.D.). The carle he did play sae teugh.

  10.  a. In special collocations, as tough-cake: see quots. 1881, 1896; tough-iron: see quot. 1686; tough-pitch = tough-cake; tough-stone = puff-stone (PUFF sb. 9 b).

c. 1640.  J. Smyth, Hundred of Berkeley (1885), 175. In this toune [Dursley] is a rocke of a strange stone called a Puffe stone or as some pronounce it a tough stone.

1686.  Plot, Staffordsh., 161. The fourth and best sorts of Iron they call tough-Iron of which they make all sorts of the best wares.

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Tough-cake, refined or commercial copper. Ibid., Tough-pitch, see Tough-cake.

1896.  E. Durham Gloss., Toughcake, a water-cake, or white-cake, baked on the girdle. No currants used.

  b.  In comb. (chiefly parasynthetic) with other adjs., as tough-acting, -backed, -looking, -metalled, -shelled, -skinned, -strung.

a. 1625.  Fletcher & Massinger, Elder Brother, V. i. A true tough-metall’d blade.

1682.  N. O., Boileau’s Lutrin, II. 14. A tough-back’t Knave.

1768.  Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 644. Their solid bones, their tough-strung muscles, their strong-bounding blood.

1825.  Coleridge, Lett., to J. Gillman (1895), 743. Nature is … tough-lived as a turtle.

1826.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. II. 132. A tall, spare, tough-looking woman, with a long bony face.

1872.  Browning, Fifine, xxxi. Unsensitive, tough-thonged In lieu of our fine nerve.

1889.  Omaha Daily Bee, 10 Jan., 6/3. He is a tough looking, as well as a tough acting prisoner.

  B.  sb. U.S. A street ruffian; cf. ROUGH sb.¹ 7.

1866.  Howells, Venet. Life, ii. The toughs of the distant alleys.

1884.  J. Miller, Mem. & Rime, i. 9. Another ‘tough’ … helped them hustle me in.

1887.  Detroit Free Press, 10 Aug., 5/3. Landon sat in the dock in company with a brace of mangy-looking toughs, seeming quite unconcerned.

1897.  Outing (U.S.), XXX. 429/1. It has spoiled our football, ruined our baseball, except for the ‘tough.’

1903.  C. Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico, I. 3. There was some talk about a raid on the camp by some toughs in the neighbourhood, but we made our start unmolested, on September 9, 1890.